As residents of San Francisco we are intimately connected to the topography of the city. More than any other city I’ve lived in the geography of the hills designate, separate and embody all of the different neighborhoods. To honor our city, Jake made this video of the Othermill creating a topographic map of San Francisco.

This week, we had a young visitor hanging out around OtherFab. My son is 8 and was on spring break. He loves it here and begged me to come to work. I said he could come for half of the time, not really being sure how to juggle the workday with watching a kid. Fortunately, he is into building things (so are we!), so I figured that I could use him as a beta tester for some of our software and hardware tools.

If you’re on this site, maybe you’ve used one of these newfangled computer controlled machines: a waterjet, laser cutter, vertical milling center, or 3D printer. Maybe you haven’t but you’re curious to see what all the fuss is about. Why should you care? Why are they exciting? There are a lot of folks who will tell you that they’ll change the world, see here and here. I’ll tell you that these tools can help you accelerate, extend, and enhance your hobby and craft projects. Even better they allow small businesses to compete with large manufacturers in terms of speed, efficiency, and accuracy.